World War Z did not initially bring interest to my continually unsatiated zombie appetite until I began to read a few articles online about the re-writes and virtually half of the movie being done over at the last moment. Could World War Z become the epitome of failed zombie flicks and arrive dead at the local theater? Re-writing a movie which had a theatrical opening in the near future was certainly not a good indication of a success, and was destined to be a Brad Pitt Bomb. Were the comments pretentious because the movie hadn't even been released yet? World War Z became so intriguing, I told myself on this rare occasion...I was going to a theater to see just how bad it was.

Wow. How bad it was not.

The Plot

World War Z presents us with set of new rules for the physical capabilities of zombies. If you've seen Dawn Of The Dead, where zombies were first becoming a little quicker than George A. Romero's interpretation and made you a little more concerned, you'll almost have an idea of the quickness. A more accurate representation? Well, imagine The Walking Dead zombies on a performance sports drink that has about 10,000mg of caffeine it. Yeah, that's about right. These are not your typical zombies, but an extremely fast undead body which will dive through windshields and leap off 20-story buildings...just at the chance of taking a little nibble from those average-looking calves of yours.

Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) finds himself and wife Karin Lane (Mireille Enos), along with two daughters Constance (Sterling Jerins) and Rachel (Abigail Hargrove), smack in the middle of a freak virus which has, upon initial observation, no logic or reason. One moment, the Lane Family are gridlocked in Philadelphia when all hell breaks lose and within seconds of being bitten by an infected human being (i.e., zombie), a person joins the indifferent ranks of the exponentially increasing zombie horde which is overtaking city after city...across the world. If Gerry has learned anything from his UN days of observing how viruses and diseases spread and the surviving organisms which manage to avoid infection — keep moving. At all costs.

Packaging

Packaging for World War Z came to me with as a Blu-ray and DVD set, along with a Digital Copy. The case unfortunately, was the standard VIVA Elite Eco-Case. If the Zombie Apocalypse begins, and a you're being chased around the house by a zombie mouse...don't even think of throwing this case at it, because it would probably fall apart. Before it even reached the mouse. Now, if it was a Steelbook...you'd get some satisfaction. Currently, World War Z steelbooks are not available in the US (ummm, why?), so you're stuck to buying it from a foreign dealer. Expect to pay around $45.

Screencaps

Video

World War Z looks outstanding, and due to the entire movie barely staying in one place for more than a few minutes, benefits greatly from using the Arri Alexa M camera.

Initially, World War Z had some difficult production challenges, but the movie played out rather well. Considering how many directors have gone viral themselves with zombie movies and ending in total failure and embarassment, WWZ takes the best aspects of zombies, and throws in some new twists.

A unique virus that targets healthy humans and zombies who leap off buildings and dive into windshields to get a chunk out of your body, World War Z (Unrated Edition) (Blu-ray) gets a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED PLUS.